


I Must Change

by UmJamLam



Category: Mogeko, Okegom, 大海原と大海原 | Oounabara to Wadanohara | Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea, 廃れ夢 | Obsolete Dream
Genre: Best Friends, Friendship, Gen, Met minor appearance, Satanick mentioned
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 06:41:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28791147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UmJamLam/pseuds/UmJamLam
Summary: Lobco, a young crustacean from the sea doesn't like herself very much. She loves her home, but decides that in order to become the person she wants to be she'll have to leave it.
Relationships: Lobco & Aom
Kudos: 7





	I Must Change

**Author's Note:**

> AN: I have seen several translations of the Sea God’s name. For now I just went with the one with the wiki but as we all know lots of people tend to just treat their headcanons as canon and put whatever they want there so pardon if this isn’t entirely accurate.
> 
> This is set prior to the game and prior to Lobco becoming Chlomaki’s familiar.

Within DeepSea Town, the waters were completely still an uninterrupted. Silence reigned the town on this calm night, and most of its residents were tucked away in their homes, fast asleep. Tucked away amongst so much spiraling, colorful coral was one house in which two young girls were still awake, enjoying the news brought to them from the surface.

One of them was currently bringing up some midnight food. The tray held a simple but delectable array treats: seaweed wraps full of vegetables and grains, fruit, cheeses. The seaweed wraps were a staple at Lobco’s home, made first lovingly by her mother, then passed onto her when Doloz’s claws became too large to be able to cook anymore. A small smile appeared on her face as she remembered so many days spent in the kitchen, following her mother’s instructions as she learned to cook more and more meals; those were memories that she treasured, much the same way she treasured her father teaching her about tea, how to grow, how to mix, and how to make it.

The shrimp climbed the stairs to her room quietly, not wanting to wake her parents, and pushed the door to her room open. Her room was spacious and all her pillows, blankets and spares had been piled in the middle to make a fort. The lights were off, but the three stars that Lobco had collected from the Sea of Stars provided all the illumination that they needed under the pillow fort. From the outside Lobco could see how the light shone softly through the blankets, and with the aid of her antennas she was able to maneuver easily and slip inside.

Lobco gently lay the tray next to Aom who lifted her head from the book she was flipping through, before Lobco settled down as well. Apart from the tray, there was also her radio playing softly between them, sound trapped by the canopy of blankets. The radio was one of Lobco’s most prized possessions. She had saved up for so long doing odd jobs where she’d be accepted. Technology, needless to say, was not exactly the Sea Kingdom’s forte and so this had needed to be ordered from outside and then enchanted in order for it to function properly underwater. 

“Humans really are weird creatures, aren’t they? The vampires have been getting up in arms about their stock and I’m just wondering why they care so much. Who wouldn’t want to be bitten and fed upon by a hot girl? Yet it’s getting to the point where in their attempts to fight a lot of them end up dead so the vampires are struggling to find ways to get them restrained without risking losing their food source. What a pain!”

Aom and Lobco wrinkled their noses.

“That’ll wrap it up for this segment for Bloody Radio and your ghost with the most. Stay tuned next Wednesday for when we go deeper and find out just what’s crawled up the Devil’s ass this time that’s got him crying so much.”

Lobco sighed at the crude language “What’s that about?”

Aom set the book aside and reached to grab a slice of apple. “Apparently whenever the Devil gets incredibly upset it causes it to rain over there. It’s been raining for nearly two weeks.”

That was odd, but Lobco had long since stopped trying to figure out how Gods and Devils worked. She couldn’t understand why Aounabara had fallen asleep, she couldn’t understand why the planes of this world were so segregated, and she couldn’t understand the reasoning behind the physiological ties to a person’s emotions and the weather of their home. All that said, a part of her couldn’t help but pity him; he must be in a right state if he had been upset for that long...a feeling she could relate to—though she couldn’t even begin to imagine what might be going through the mind and life of one of two of the most powerful beings on this planet to anguish him so.

“Don’t forget about the things he does.” Aom said, breaking through her thoughts. Lobco hadn’t even realized Aom had been looking at her. She colored a little and nodded. Perhaps he did have a reason for his grief, but his crimes were hardly secret, and could hardly be swept away or forgotten.

Especially not when he would never face any sort of punishment for them and had yet to make any sort of amends for his behavior. Yes, Aom was right, he did not deserve her pity.

…

It was still hard not to give it.

Lobco gave a small shake of her head. So much of the world was the way it was because of the Devil. It was no wonder that the Sea Kingdom was so insular. “What was it like up there, Aom?” Aom was the only person she knew personally who had been to the surface for an extended period of time (though Lobco did suspect the same of her father, but he was always rather tight lipped about where he came from).

Aom let out a thoughtful hum, first finishing eating. A lot seemed to be going through her mind as she pondered how to answer that question, and Lobco waited patiently.

“I came from a river far into the mainland, but still one this same plane. To the west, away from Totsusa Kingdom. So it’s still not quite where that majority of Pitch’s civilization is,” Aom jutted a hand towards the radio, “but it’s still pretty dangerous for folks like us. Life in the sea here is best. I left because of how many of us were being harvested.”

Lobco’s chest tightened at that. From other things Aom had said in the past, the redhead had gathered that it was something along those lines that had driven her from her home, but she had never said it outright until now.

“It’s always going to be dangerous for any animal folk, but it wasn’t all bad. Just nice to not wonder who is thinking about making a meal out of you. I met some nice people and there are a lot of scattered villages are throughout the mainland. You have Totsusa Kingdom and then beyond it’s borders are just a lot of different communities, many incredibly varied. I wouldn’t even know which one to begin with if I had to describe them all.”

Lobco leaned in closer, eyes glimmering with anticipation. “Well. How about one of the ones closest to here?”

Aom smiled at Lobco’s obvious enthusiasm. “Closest to here? Well, that’d definitely have to be Tamboril which is a port city. It was from there that I entered the ocean and eventually made my way over here. Most of the people there are cats and well...as you can expect with them being a port city they do fish a lot but they seem to be a lot more reluctant to go after people who can change, like us. So. It was pretty safe for me.”

Lobco had rather mixed feelings about that. People like herself, Aom, and her father who could take on these bipedal forms could only do so because either they had become a familiar or someone in their ancestry had. It was complete chance that she had been born like this and she knew well the privilege that it brought her; she didn’t know why it was so hard for others to understand that animals without that power were every bit as sentient as those with it.

“They had those prejudices yet they still treated me kindly so it felt weird. I feel like I should be more appreciative but it also felt like acknowledging it was somehow excusing it. The truth of the matter is, however, out of all the places I stopped at they were the only ones who didn’t try to attack me and gave me good information. I got to read a lot at the library they had there and actually have a moment to catch my breath.”

It wasn’t often that Aom looked so uncertain but Lobco thought she could understand why the situation discomforted her so.

“You aren’t excusing it. You’re simply stating facts. They treated you kindly, but you also know things would have been different from others. While their views are definitely...um…not the most open minded, it doesn’t mean they are just going to evil caricatures. I think it’s great that while they were nice to you, you aren’t trying to excuse their racism.”

Aom relaxed a little and nodded. “Hopefully they’ve gotten better since then but I imagine it would be hard for them to change their minds when their economy is built on hunting seafolk.”

It was more than a little uncomfortable to think about. If they stopped fishing, would their town end up in shambles? Would everyone starve and have to move away? It was hard to feel pity for them when they had built their livelihood at the sacrifice of others. Lobco grimaced and shook her head. It wasn’t like they didn’t have a choice. As people who could transform it’s not as if they lacked the ability to process other foods, like say a shark who couldn’t change. In order to live those sharks had to give into their carnivorous diet, lest they die.

“What got you so curious?”

Ah. Yes. Right.

While there was certainly a healthy amount of curiosity for this line of questioning, there was also a specific reason that Lobco had asked. Had it been anyone else Lobco would have taken much longer skirting around the subject but she knew that Aom would listen to her without judgment and give an opinion that neither dismissed her feelings nor coddled her.

“Wellllll,” Lobco drummed her fingers against the ground, “I’ve. Actually been thinking of doing some traveling on the surface myself. Go out, see some sights. Um. Change.”

Unsurprisingly that was followed by silence on Aom’s part. Lobco had no doubt this came as a surprise to her—she was, after all, a person who loved her home and family more than anything else. She was mild mannered, timid, gentle—to an extreme and negative degree. It was no wonder she left little to no impression on people, to the point her own neighbors forgot of her existence.

Lobco didn’t like that. She didn’t like that it was so difficult for her to speak her mind. She didn’t like how difficult it was for her to simply approach someone to say hi, to let them know that something they had done upset her. She didn’t like that it was so hard for her to try new things, even when the only risk was disappointment from failing.

Lobco loved her home. No matter where she went she knew that one day she would return here; but at this moment home was not letting her grow. Home was not helping her become the person that she wanted to be—that is, someone more confident. Someone not so easily effected by the opinions of others and someone who could speak her mind.

“Ooook,” Aom finally responded, slow and deliberate, “so you want to change. Is leaving the sea really necessary for that? Is it the only way to get this done? I know you’re strong, Lobco, and understand how dangerous is it but it’s not really something you can prepare for. It’s sink or swim, so to speak.”

Lobco nodded.

“I’m sure there are other, safer methods, probably...but the very fact its sink or swim makes me feel this would work best for me. Otherwise I’d just keep making excuses to myself for why I shouldn’t do what I need to...besides. On top of wanting to change I genuinely do want to see what the rest of the world is like. Reading about it is fun and all, but nothing could match up to seeing it for yourself, right? And just as you said while there is plenty that is bad out there, I’m sure there is plenty that is good….and there is one more reason.”

Aom tilted her head to the side, antennas perking up in curiosity.

“It’s about mom.” Lobco laced her fingers together and looked ahead, expression now more terse and eyes fixed on the canopy.

“I know this is probably a little weird to bring up after what we just talked about but I want to find a witch. Not just for myself but for her. So they can give her the ability to change.”

Aom raised an eyebrow but she said nothing, instead just nodding so that let Lobco know that she was listening.

“Mother is still growing. She’s going to continue to grow. There are so few her size because most of us get caught and eaten eventually….but...another reason is because eventually lobsters become incapable of growing larger shells. There will come a day in which she keeps growing, but she won’t be able to molt and she’ll just end up stuck in her own shell and die. It’s not that I think she has to change because there’s something wrong with how she is but….”

Like the rest of them, Doloz was ageless, but if they couldn’t find a way around that very significant problem then what difference did it really make? Finding a means for Doloz to be given the power to change was the best way to assure her longevity. 

“That’s...yea. I can understand much better now why you want to leave. Have you talked to Wadanohara about this at all?”

Lobco shook her head. “Wadanohara is a great witch, but I don’t think she’s powerful enough to do that quite yet. Samekichi already had the ability to change when she took him on as her familiar.” There had been a time when Lobco really wanted to be Wadanohara’s familiar, before when the idea of magic appealed to her only for her own sake, but she had never been asked. It was disappointing at first, but perhaps it was for the best. 

Aom pushed herself put to her feet to sit with her legs crossed. A long stretch of silence followed which made even Lobco begin to get a little uncomfortable and worry. What was going through Aom’s mind? Obviously she’d be worried, and Lobco trusted that she would be honest about all this but if she was thinking for this long did it mean she honestly believed that she couldn’t do it? If that was the case then Lobco would have to reassess if this really was something she could do, which after so long deliberating and building up her confidence would have been devastating.

“I’m not really sure what to say, Lobco. It scares me to think of you out there. You’re stronger and smarter than you think, so it’s not like I think you’re capable but up there you could come across demons or angels or vampires and they have such unfathomable physiological advantages over us. All the preparation could be for nothing if you just happen to have enough bad luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I’ll be worried but. If this is something you want to do, and if this is something you feel you need to do then I believe you can pull it off. Just. Make sure to send some letters our way with Nekoyama. Please.”

It wasn’t often that Aom emoted. She wasn’t cold or hard to move, but she was the sort to keep her cool, so to see her looking her way with such plaintive worry and fear in her eyes made Lobco feel guilty.

“I will. I promise.” Lobco reached out to take Aom’s hand.


End file.
